Monday, March 19, 2007

It would appear that Wyoming is home to about 1,200 known sex offenders, most of whom moved there after being convicted someplace else. Unlike most other states, Wyoming, which prides itself on its laissez-faire culture, does not bar sex offenders from living near schools and day-care centers.

Bad Week For: Leniency, after an Illinois judge allowed an accused child molester to vacation in Florida. Frank Atherton, 46, says he plans to visit Disney World. “We would have objected further had we known that was where he was going,” said prosecutor Lise Lombardo.

I did a bit more research on this issue. There's more. The judge has now apparently reversed his original decision. From FoxNews:

BELVIDERE, Ill. — A Boone County judge gave a man accused of sexually assaulting three children permission to visit Walt Disney World, then reversed his decision, according to published reports. Frank D. Atherton, 46, got court approval last month to visit Florida on a two-week vacation. When he provided the court clerk with his specific itinerary earlier this week, Associate Judge R. Craig Sahlstrom authorized Atherton to spend three days of his trip at the theme park, according to a story in Thursday's edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. Atherton's attorney, Michael Haughan, defended the trip. "He is going with his family (to Florida), and he is presumed innocent," Haughan said.

Atherton was freed on bail, it should be noted, and one of the conditions was that he not have contact with any minor children. Perhaps the judge finally took more than 2.35 seconds and asked himself a pertinent question: say, what do you customarily find at Walt Disney World?

It would appear that Wyoming is home to about 1,200 known sex offenders, most of whom moved there after being convicted someplace else. Unlike most other states, Wyoming, which prides itself on its laissez-faire culture, does not bar sex offenders from living near schools and day-care centers.

Bad Week For: Leniency, after an Illinois judge allowed an accused child molester to vacation in Florida. Frank Atherton, 46, says he plans to visit Disney World. “We would have objected further had we known that was where he was going,” said prosecutor Lise Lombardo.

I did a bit more research on this issue. There's more. The judge has now apparently reversed his original decision. From FoxNews:

BELVIDERE, Ill. — A Boone County judge gave a man accused of sexually assaulting three children permission to visit Walt Disney World, then reversed his decision, according to published reports. Frank D. Atherton, 46, got court approval last month to visit Florida on a two-week vacation. When he provided the court clerk with his specific itinerary earlier this week, Associate Judge R. Craig Sahlstrom authorized Atherton to spend three days of his trip at the theme park, according to a story in Thursday's edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. Atherton's attorney, Michael Haughan, defended the trip. "He is going with his family (to Florida), and he is presumed innocent," Haughan said.

Atherton was freed on bail, it should be noted, and one of the conditions was that he not have contact with any minor children. Perhaps the judge finally took more than 2.35 seconds and asked himself a pertinent question: say, what do you customarily find at Walt Disney World?

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